Republican lawmakers pledged changes to Gov. Scott Walker’s budget during the first day of votes on the two-year spending plan.
It’s not unusual for the party that’s not in the governor’s office to blast the budget, and during Wednesday’s meeting of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, Democrats like Rep. Chris Taylor of Madison piled on.
“The majority of people we heard from hate this budget,” Taylor said. “That’s a strong term, but that’s the truth.”
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But Walker’s fellow Republicans, like River Hills Sen. Alberta Darling, said Walker’s budget was only a starting point.
“This will not be the governor’s budget anymore,” Darling said. “The governor passed the budget onto us, now it’s our turn to put our ideas on it. The governor is not at the table, we are at the table.”
Republicans bucked the governor on a few issues Wednesday, including scrapping his plan to gut the power of the Natural Resources Board. The big tests will come later, when they vote on Walker’s budget for schools, transportation and long-term care.
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